At long last, my library trip has yielded a treasure-trove of Cybils nominees. Which means I’m frantically reading nominees from each category, hoping to still accomplish my original goal (of reading one book from each category.)
So far, Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu has completely stolen my affections. It’s fantastic.
“She stood looking at the line of trees that demarcated the woods as clearly as any doorway. Uncle Martin was right. She knew it at that moments. There were secrets, and there were witches in white, and somewhere there was Jack.
She wished he were with her now.
Hazel had read enough books to know that a line like this one is the line down which your life breaks in two. And you have to think very carefully about whether you want to cross it, because once you do it’s very hard to get back to the world you left behind. And sometimes you break a barrier that no one knew existed, and then everything you knew before crossing the line is gone.
But sometimes you have a friend to rescue. and so you take a deep breath and then step over the line and into the darkness ahead.”
~Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Have you met one of those lines, a line where life breaks in two?
Will you step into the uncomfortable to go on a mission trip? Will you break off that relationship you know you shouldn’t be in? Will you venture into an unknown city? Will you give up your most cherished dreams?
You stand at the line, indecisive, knowing that what you decide will change your life.
Behind lies comfort, life as it’s always been. Predictability. Safety. Concrete reality.
In front lie only questions.
Will you go?
Will you risk having your life broken in two?
I’ve stood at the line many a time. Will I go? Will I venture? Will I enter the unknown?
Sometimes you have a friend to rescue–or sometimes you realize that the friend beckoning on the other end wants to rescue you.
So you take a deep breath and then step over the line and into the darkness ahead.
What are some of the lines you’ve stepped over–and why did you cross them?
Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week–and Amy’s Armchair Cybils where we’re reading Cybils nominees.
What a beautiful passage. I love this imagery of stepping over lines.
I do feel like I have stepped over many lines in my path: deciding to marry Jeff; deciding to have another baby after Kali died; switching churches.
And this year, deciding to take on VBS in El Salvador. Even stepping up to the lines is hard for me, so stepping over definitely takes a leap of faith. But when God crosses with us, all will be well.
The major one in my life was marrying my husband. I had been engaged before, and that was very much the wrong guy, as I could only see later, so I knew it was possible to be deceived by one’s feelings. I couldn’t make that commitment again without being absolutely sure, and once that commitment was made, I needed to stand by it come what may.
One that I fail in all too often is speaking to people about the Lord. In person I avoid confrontation like the plague, and my early Christian experiences seemed to teach that one wasn’t truly witnessing unless one shared the whole plan of salvation and a personal invitation (or strong urging) for the other person to accept the Lord right then and there. I’ve come to realize it doesn’t have to be quite that way, that I can just bring up spiritual things and see how far the other person will let the conversation go, and I’m not opposed to asking the person if they’re ready to believe, but I’d be against “pushing” them into it — I’ve seen too many false professions that way. It’s not hard for me to talk about the Lord generally, but it is hard for me to turn it around and ask the other person where he/she is spiritually. Often I sense that possibility of an opening to say something, and in the moment talk myself out of it, but what few times I have gone ahead, it feels very much like crossing a line. I do need to look at it like a friend in need of rescue.
Well, Barbara stole my answer…really…I too was engaged before, so marrying my husband was a big LINE for me. AND…(I said she stole my answer) I so often feel that I should be viewing the lost with a hurting heart, ready to cross that line for them. Taking a big breath…stepping…
Oh, I just started Breadcrumbs this afternoon, so I’m not reading your post now. . . but I’ll be back!